Priti Kumar PhD

Biographical Info

Developing siRNA and gene
delivery tools for antiviral therapy is my field of expertise. While at the
Harvard University, I developed novel ligand- and antibody-based targeted
delivery platforms for specific gene silencing in human neuronal and T cells. I
specialize in the generation of animal models for flaviviral and retroviral
infections and have successfully demonstrated the feasibility of the nucleic
acid carriers in animal models for flaviviral encephalitis and HIV, in three
hallmark papers. These studies showed that RNAi-based technologies can indeed
be used as therapeutic interventions for both acute and chronic viral
infections. At Yale University, as an assistant professor, my laboratory
focuses on application of such delivery systems to study the pathogenesis of
viral infections in relevant animal models including multiple humanized mouse
models that are infectable by HIV.